I would agree with your assessment of price point and basically what you get for the money, not taking into account reduced prices on previous years' models.

I DIDN'T buy my bike at a well-stocked lbs that had a great selection of brands and the cheapest prices anywhere, really competitive, because they were wayyyy too busy and the service suffered for that. Forget trying to get a fitting, or your get your serviced bike back in less than 3 weeks...